Otago winemaker signs deal for US distribution

Greg Doody (left) and Lindsay McLachlan. Photo / File

Peregrine Wines chief executive Fraser McLachlan is unashamedly enthusiastic about the deal he and his co-directors, Lindsay and Jude McLachlan, have signed with Vineyard Brands.

The deal will mean the full range of Peregrine wines being distributed to every state in the United States, a significant increase on the pinot noir and sauvignon blanc which had been selling in selected states in the past few years.

Fraser said Peregrine had been in a working relationship with Vineyard Brands for six or seven years.

"It started out with a couple of wines but they have decided to take our full portfolio which is bubbly right through to a late harvest riesling. It is very humbling to have this opportunity to show what Central Otago can do."

The factor that clinched the deal for Peregrine was being a family business. Before Peregrine, Vineyard had dealt with Villa Maria.

The deal, signed this month, was an opportunity to build on the relationship started six or seven years ago, Fraser said.

Although he declined to release the volume of wine Peregrine sold to the US, because of market sensitivities, he said the new deal would mean a 50 per cent increase in production.

Peregrine, although based in Gibbston Valley, regarded itself as a Central Otago winemaker, he said. It was developing 11ha in Bendigo and also used grapes from Pisa and some fruit from a small number of other growers. The wine itself was all made at the Gibbston Valley winery.

Peregrine had been bucking the national trend when it came to exports, Fraser said.

About 70 per cent of wine made in New Zealand was exported but it was the opposite for Peregrine, which had New Zealand and Australia as its largest market.

And most of the market growth in the US, which was now the world's largest consumer of wine, was from Marlborough savignon blanc.

"We've stayed close to home to start with and now we are expanding offshore."

It is very humbling to have this opportunity to show what Central Otago can do.

Vineyard president and chief executive Greg Doody visited Peregrine for the second time this month to cement the deal, Fraser said.

Fraser travels to the US about four times a year and said he had grown a strong working relationship with Doody and the Vineyard staff.

Lindsay McLachlan, the managing director, said the deal gave the winery access to the world's biggest wine market with nationwide placement, a market to which the family had never envisaged it would have access.

"We're absolutely thrilled they have selected us, delighted they enjoy the wines and recognise the quality. What we have here is a long-term channel to be able to take the wines we're really proud of to a huge wine market, something we couldn't do without them," Lindsay MacLachlan said.

Moody said his company was choosy about who it worked with but it had loved the wines and people at Peregrine.

"We're a family business and so are they," he said. "We have a good track record of working with families looking to the future, planting for their children or grandchildren." - Otago Daily Times